By David Crystal

New from Cambridge University Press!

By Peter Mark Roget

This book "supplies a vocabulary of English words and idiomatic phrases 'arranged … according to the ideas which they express'. The thesaurus, continually expanded and updated, has always remained in print, but this reissued first edition shows the impressive breadth of Roget's own knowledge and interests."

Book Information

The history and development of English, from the earliest known writings toits status today as a dominant world language, is a subject of majorimportance to linguists and historians. In this authoritative volume, ateam of international experts cover the entire recorded history of theEnglish language, outlining its development over fifteen centuries. With anemphasis on more recent periods, every key stage in the history of thelanguage is covered, with full accounts of standardization, names, thedistribution of English in Britain and North America, and its globalspread. New historical surveys of the crucial aspects of the language(sounds, word-structure, grammar and vocabulary) are presented, andhistorical changes that have affected English are treated as a continuingprocess, helping to explain the shape of the language today. Comprehensiveand fully up-to-date, the volume will be indispensable to all advancedstudents, scholars and teachers in this prominent field.